The United States, Once Again, Is Nearing Its Borrowing Limit

Republican senators want to know how the Treasury Department will avoid default if it reaches the federal debt limit. That could happen sometime toward the end of this year. The Treasury Department could put off default for a few more months by taking emergency measures. Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner for details. They said planning ahead could avoid a repeat of what happened last year. That's when a similar debate nearly shut down the federal government, and the government's credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history. It also led to the Budget Control Act, which put the wheels of sequestration and automatic budget cuts in motion.